Two Major Amicus Briefs Submitted in Kane v. de Blasio Case at Supreme Court
I ask all of my friends, family and supporters to please pray that SCOTUS will be blessed with the wisdom to take on our case in December of 2025
Kane v. de Blasio (now called Kane v. City of New York) has applied for a cert petition with the Supreme Court. The case represents NYC educators who were illegally denied religious exemptions to vaccination in 2021, and I am the lead plaintiff in this cases. I was extremely happy and somewhat surprised to learn two prestigious organizations have filed amicus briefs in support of this case!
PACIFIC JUSTICE INSTITUTE:
PJI is a giant in the field of religious liberty. It is one of the largest and most prestigious Christian non-profits in the nation since 1997 with offices across several states. In their amicus brief, they cover two major points:
First, the U.S. Constitution shelters personal religious beliefs acquired through prayer, inner spiritual guidance, vision or revelation in equal measure as those beliefs handed down from major faith traditions, sacred text, or spiritual authorities seated at the top of a hierarchy.
Second, the First Amendment guards the sincere, not weighing the religious adherent on a scale to evaluate if the conviction is wanting in logic or objective validity.
This is so critically important to me on a personal level. Nothing offended me more in this horrible process then when NYC said I must submit a letter from a “pastor” or spiritual leader who “approved” of my religious exemption. I was raised in a home of Buddhism and Catholicism, and I was encouraged by my parents to explore and find a God of my own understanding. There is no man, no book, no institution that stands in between me and my God. I was always aware that the Constitution protected my right to have a personal relationship with my higher power, and this point more than any other is the one I hope and pray the Kane case solidifies as law across the nation in all states, in all federal courts, resolving the one final “circuit split” on personal religious beliefs that remains only in the 2nd Circuit federal court of appeals.
Read the full amicus brief from PJI here:
LORICA INSTITUTE:
The Lorica Institute is a nonprofit policy and research organization focused on advancing religious liberty, parental rights, and conscience protections in healthcare, education, and public policy. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., Lorica is led by Executive Director Emma Wei, a former policy advisor with experience in faith-based advocacy, aligned with organizations like Alliance Defending Freedom and the Family Research Council.
Read the full amicus brief from Lorica here:
Summary of Kane v. City of New York
Originally named Kane v. de Blasio this case was filed in September of 2021 when NYC - under the leadership of then-mayor Bill de Blasio - instituted the first of many vaccine mandates on city workers. This first vaccine mandate was solely on teachers and educators. Kane v. de Blasio brought together nearly a dozen NYC educators whose religious exemptions to vaccination were denied by the City. The case was brought by attorney Sujata Gibson and was backed by Teachers for Choice. Within a few months Children’s Health Defense backed the lawsuit and has been supporting the case ever since.
Just a few months after this case launched, a second was filed titled Keil v. City of New York which was backed by Educators for Freedom brought by the law firm Nelson Madden Black. The two cases eventually merged into one and attracted the attention of Alliance Defending Freedom led by attorney John Bursch who is now the lead attorney on the case.
Together Alliance Defending Freedom, Children’s Health Defense and Nelson Madden Black are all unified on the legal team of the Kane case seeking a writ of certioari from the highest court in the nation.
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Not wanting to take a vax should not hinge on religious freedom; it should hinge on bodily autonomy, but it's a start. And kudos for all your hard work. Did you ever imagine 6 years ago you would be doing the work you are doing? And did you ever imagine that you would be fighting the current Democratic machinery to do so?